Working Paper: NBER ID: w27415
Authors: Yuanning Liang; Ivan J. Rudik; Eric Zou; Alison Johnston; Amanda D. Rodewald; Catherine L. Kling
Abstract: Massive wildlife losses over the past 50 years have brought new urgency to identifying both the drivers of population decline and potential solutions. We provide the first large-scale evidence that air pollution, specifically ozone, is associated with declines in bird abundance in the United States. We show that an air pollution regulation limiting ozone precursors emissions has delivered substantial benefits to bird conservation. Our estimates imply that air quality improvements over the past four decades have stemmed the decline in bird populations, averting the loss of 1.5 billion birds, approximately 20 percent of current totals. Our results highlight that in addition to protecting human health, air pollution regulations have previously unrecognized and unquantified conservation co-benefits.
Keywords: Air Pollution; Bird Conservation; Regulation; Ecosystem Services
JEL Codes: Q53; Q57; Q58
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reductions in ozone since 1980 (F64) | Bird populations (J11) |
| Ozone concentrations (Q59) | Bird abundance (Q57) |
| NOx Budget Trading Program (Q58) | Ozone concentrations (Q59) |
| NOx Budget Trading Program (Q58) | Bird abundance (Q57) |
| Ozone concentrations (Q59) | Bird abundance (Q57) |
| NOx Budget Trading Program (Q58) | Landbird abundance (Q57) |